Taking a Snow Day! Out for a drive.

Went for a drive around the AV and further on the Thursday after the big snow storm. 70th West all the way out to 270 East on Ave G. Found the "Kill Bill" wedding chapel purely by accident.

It was a rather relaxing drive. Saw only a couple of other people out driving the whole time.

Was nice to have the four wheel drive when needed, but most of the roads were no issue even in two wheel drive.

Red Rock Overnight Camping Trip

Originally I had planned on setting up a tent for the kids to sleep in and I would just sleep outside on the cot. But since we end up getting up to Red Rock around 8pm and there was no moon that night, it was really dark. The weather was beautiful though (no wind, not hot, and not to cold). So I asked the kids if they were ok with sleeping on the air mattress in the back of my truck and it was an instant adventure for them. Jordyn, Tanner and Dalton each slept in the back of the truck on the air mattress so they could look up at the stars during the night. Shad and I slept on the cots.

It was quite all night long with very clear sky's. a sliver of a moon actually came out around 5am. It was a very peaceful sunrise. But one the sun came up, it started to get hot. 98 degrees by 8:30am.

I let the kids explore all the crevices and winding paths in the canyon face. They were having a blast exploring and laying "claim" to all the "houses" they could find.




Around 10:30am I decided it was getting a little hot and that we should go up to Burrow Schmidt tunnel and explore it. Much cooler inside there. After walking through the tunnel and back we headed back home.


The kids seemed to have really enjoyed the trip, minus some skinned elbows, bruised butts and all the dirt and grime you can handle for a long time.

More Expeimental Photos

The AV Fair Photo Exhibit (update)

I will have ten photos exhibited in the AV Fair this year. I entered all the mounted photos on the 13th of August. The photos will be exhibited at the fair from August 22nd through September 1st. We'll see how mine stack up to others that were entered.

Only had one category mess up, but was able to get it fixed. Had to deal with "the grumpy old guy" volunteer to get it changed, but I was able to get it into the right category. I think this was the same guy that Shad had for his GATE Photography class. If so, it was no wonder it was such a fiasco and the kids really didn't seem to enjoy it. But we'll just have to work on that this year.

The AV Fair Photo Exhibit (update)

My Dark Space in the World: The AV Fair Photo Exhibit

Entry form submitted. Photos to be submitted on Aug 13th.

July Sunset

Photo of the sunset, same day as the sunrise.

Photo of the week: Lakebed Sunrise

Believe it or not, this is actually a desert sunrise. Shot Feb 6th 2008 while driving into work. The Rosamond Lakebed was full of water from the rains we had. And the lakebed was completely frozen over.

4th of July

Tanner, Jordyn and I had a good time at the Fourth of July Pool Party. Tanner was really getting the hang of surfing the boogie board. He did smack his chin on the side though, but I don't think he was on the board when he did that (Lori has video of that I believe). Both Tanner and Jordyn are becoming quite the little 'fish'. Shad was up in Utah with his cousins this weekend (see other posts). Tanner and Palsy we more interested in digging out the "Rocks" from the lake bed we parked on than watching the fireworks show. But at least they were entertained.

The photos below are just some of the fireworks shot that I took while out there watching the AV Fairgrounds Fireworks Show. The last one is the mad rush of people leaving after the show was over.

Afternoon at Apollo Park

I decided to take the Carpet Sharks out and run them a little this afternoon. Just to run down some of that energy they alway store up before bed time. So we went out to Apollo Park since it is closer to the new house and I hadn't been there in a while. It also was a beautiful afternoon with no wind and looked like it might be a good sunset.

The carpet sharks burning some energy.





You can see Tanners horns in this one.



Strike a pose. Tanner thought it was disco pose... Jordyn went for vogue... Not sure what Shad went for.



I love how the flare reflection worked in this one with the combination of the kids silhouetted as well as the water ripples. Worked alot better than I thought it would.



The sunset turned pretty good. The water was calm so reflections worked really well. Had one issue where as usual at Apollo Park, had a bird crap on my camera. But the kids thought that was really funny. Luckily it was only a glancing splat on top of the auto flash housing.

The following photos are some of the better shots that I took. Kind of an experiment in light.